Chapter 278: A Stubborn Person Is Stubborn From Childhood
Yu An couldn’t figure out what Tian Fu was up to, so she decided to stir things up and muddy the waters. The best-case scenario would be to provoke Tian Fu into revealing himself.
It was awful, being out in the open while her enemy lurked in the shadows.
Seeing that the people here still couldn’t see her, Yu An simply walked over. Just as the martial master’s ruler was about to strike Feng Xuan, she grabbed it.
The martial master’s motion froze. He put another twenty percent of his strength into it, but the ruler remained motionless, unable to fall.
Startled, he let go of the ruler, only to discover in horror that it was now hovering in mid-air!
Th-th-this...
"A ghost! It’s haunted!!!"
The martial master scrambled away, not even bothering to discipline the little kids who had stopped holding their horse stances to gawk in his direction.
The commotion immediately drew the guards. The martial master, his voice trembling, recounted what had happened, only to see the Guard Commander staring at him like he was a madman.
"What’s with that look!"
The martial master grew angry. "If you don’t believe me, look for yourself! That ruler is hanging in mid-air—"
The Guard Commander cut him off. "Martial Artist Wu, the ruler is clearly on the ground. You must be mistaken."
Martial Artist Wu froze and quickly looked over. Sure enough, the ruler was lying quietly on the ground.
"No," he stammered incoherently. "It was just hanging in mid-air! Really, I’m not lying!"
"You, tell me," he said, pointing at Mo Yan behind Feng Xuan. "Mo Yan, did you or did you not see the ruler hanging in mid-air?"
Mo Yan, who had been using this time to recover his strength, blinked and said blankly, "No. The ruler fell to the ground when you went to hit Feng Xuan."
The other little kids were too exhausted to have noticed, but Mo Yan had been right behind Feng Xuan. His testimony was the most convincing, so the guards became even more certain that Martial Artist Wu was just bored and messing with them for fun.
The Guard Commander had no time for his games and said with a hint of impatience, "Martial Artist Wu, we have patrols to get back to. We’ll be on our way."
Martial Artist Wu tried to make them stay. He felt a constant chill on his back, and in the vast training grounds with just him and a group of little brats, what would he do if there really was a ghost?!
But the guards had their own duties. Ignoring Martial Artist Wu’s pleas, they left without a second thought.
’A chill on his back? On a sweltering day like this? How could he possibly feel cool!’
’It was bad enough that this Martial Artist Wu threw his weight around just because he was Young Master Tian Fu’s martial master, but now he was making a fool of them.’
Martial Artist Wu wanted to cry but had no tears. He was telling the truth! He really did feel a chill on his back, as if something slick and slithery was crawling on it. He... he didn’t dare move!
After the guards left, Yu An withdrew the vine from Martial Artist Wu’s back. She had soaked the vine in ice water, and with the light summer clothes he was wearing, the chilling effect worked wonderfully even through the fabric.
She glanced at the nearby pavilion, which held chilled tea and pastries. It was clearly Martial Artist Wu’s exclusive spot for cooling off.
Then she looked at the little kids, drenched in sweat, their small faces sunburnt and red. When she saw Martial Artist Wu pick up the ruler again, this time targeting Mo Yan for "not telling the truth," Yu An couldn’t stand it and stuck her foot out, tripping him.
He had thought that with the chill gone, he could resume training the little brats. But when he suddenly tripped and fell on flat ground, Martial Artist Wu grew even more frightened.
’There was clearly nothing on the ground, so why did it feel like he’d been tripped?’
Martial Artist Wu shivered, immediately announced that training was over for the day, and hurried away.
The little kids, freed early, let out a quiet cheer, then headed for the rest area in small groups.
Yu An followed them. As it happened, Mo Yan and his three friends shared a room.
Han Li took off his shirt, grimacing in pain as Feng Xuan applied medicine. Mo Yan and Lan Yin were also tending to each other’s wounds. All of them had injuries of varying severity.
They were covered in black and blue bruises. Yu An couldn’t hold back any longer and spoke up directly, "I’ll heal you."
A strange female voice suddenly appeared out of nowhere, startling the four little ones. Lan Yin called out warily, "Who’s there!"
"I’m..."
Yu An was at a loss for a moment, unsure what identity to present to them. After a moment’s thought, she said, "I’m the one who was playing tricks on Martial Artist Wu just now. Mo Yan, you saw it, didn’t you?"
Mo Yan was astonished. "Who are you? And how do you know my name?"
Yu An’s expression didn’t change—not that anyone could see it. "I am a fairy who was passing through the mortal realm and decided to right an injustice I witnessed."
"As for how I know your name... Martial Artist Wu called out to you earlier. I heard him."
The boys’ wariness subsided slightly, but they didn’t let down their guard completely. "Why did you help us? What is your goal?"
"Like I said, I was righting an injustice. As for my goal..."
Yu An felt a mischievous urge to tease them. "This fairy doesn’t have a husband yet. I was thinking of taking you all on as my child grooms. How about it?"
As soon as she said this, all four little faces flushed red in unison.
"No way," Feng Xuan said, crossing his arms protectively over his chest. "Don’t even think about it!"
He—he already had someone he liked, even if he didn’t know where she was.
But his mother had told him, before he came to the Tian Family, that when he was just born, a friend from a past life had come to visit. This person had stayed with him for over a month and had even said they had a marriage agreement, and that they would marry when they grew up.
Yu An...
An’an...
’Even her name is so beautiful.’
’It was a shame An’an’s whereabouts were unknown, but he felt that she would definitely come back.’
’Yes, and if she didn’t come back, he would go find her!’
The other three also had people they liked. It was for this very reason that the four of them had become friends.
Whenever one of them felt like they couldn’t go on, the others would encourage them by talking about the person they liked, and then they would be able to face the next day.
Yu An knew he would say that. ’See? A stubborn person is stubborn even as a child.’
She had already recorded it, planning to play it back for Feng Xuan in the future.
"Alright, alright, I’ll stop teasing you. I descended to the mortal realm on a mission. My mission is to help people."
Having read many bedtime stories, Yu An could spin a tale at the drop of a hat. "I saw how pitiful you all were, so I decided to help you."
"Is it just the four of us?"
Mo Yan asked, "What about our other friends?"
Seeing how kind-hearted little Mo Yan was, Yu An pinched his little cheek. "I’ll help them, too."
’As long as it was within my abilities, I would help where I could.’
Mo Yan quickly covered his face and said sternly, "I have someone I like! And men and women should not have physical contact. Fairy Sister, don’t pinch my face!"
’Even so, when this invisible fairy pinched my cheek, I found that I didn’t mind it at all.’
’Alright, he’s pretty good at upholding male virtues.’
Yu An threw up her hands. "Fine, I won’t pinch you next time. But you all are just too cute. I can’t help myself."
After that, she began healing the four of them while probing for any information they knew.
In no time at all, she learned that this was the Tian Family estate, and that they were all talented children the Tian Family had selected from various places.
After arriving at the Tian Family estate, they had to practice martial arts and cultivate their spiritual power every day. The martial masters were too strict, so they got injured daily.
Their previous martial master had gotten sick, so Young Master Tian Fu’s personal martial master had been temporarily assigned to teach them for a few days.
"Wait, who did you just say? Tian Fu?"